According to The Information, citing sources, OpenAI has agreed to pay chip startup Cerebras more than $20 billion over the next three years to use the company's chip-driven servers. The deal may also give OpenAI an equity stake in the company.
The development comes as OpenAI attempts to stay ahead of the artificial intelligence race and meet growing demand. In January, the company agreed to buy up to 750 megawatts of computing power from Cerebras over three years in a deal worth more than $10 billion.
The new commitment is twice the size of OpenAI’s previously reported agreements with chipmakers.
The deal highlights the industry's growing need for computing power to run inference, the process by which artificial intelligence models generate responses.
According to reports, Cerebras may disclose previously undisclosed parts of its agreement with OpenAI as soon as Friday.
Under the deal, OpenAI will receive warrants for a minority stake in Cerebras, with OpenAI's ownership likely to increase as its payouts increase, The Information reported. The report also said that OpenAI also agreed to provide Cerebras with about $1 billion to fund the development of data centers to run artificial intelligence products.
The report also said the company's total spending over the next three years could reach $30 billion, which could translate into warrants for up to 10% of Cerebras shares.
The partnership with OpenAI is at the heart of Cerebras' IPO, which the artificial intelligence chip maker aims to do in the second quarter of this year.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Cerebras, last valued at $23.1 billion, also plans to raise $3 billion in an offering next month, valuing it at about $35 billion.
The company, founded in 2015, is known for its wafer-scale engine chips that compete with products from Nvidia NVDA.O and other artificial intelligence chipmakers. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is an early investor in Cerebras.